Teaching graphs to visually impaired students using an active auditory interface

We present our ongoing research in the communication of graphs and relational information to blind computer science students. We have developed a system called exPLoring graphs at UMB (PLUMB) that displays a drawn graph on a tablet PC and uses auditory cues to help a blind user navigate the graph. Beyond Computer Science education, this work has applications to assist blind individuals in navigation, map manipulation and other applications that require graph visualization.